Camp Wapsie, located in Coggon, Iowa, normally serves as a summer destination for kids and teens throughout Iowa. On October 12-13, things were a little different. Wapsie invited freshman and sophomores from City High to participate in a leadership retreat. The purpose of this annual retreat is to teach high school students responsibility and what it takes to be a successful leader. Jason Schumann, the AP World History teacher at City High, believes that there are different ways to be a successful leader.

“Often times students will learn that there are various ways to be a leader,” Schumann said. “You may not be the most vocal person but often leaders are people who can bring a diverse group of people together and help to facilitate the bringing together of different ideas.”

Staff wanted a wide variety of students to work on achieving these skills. The retreat was advertised on the school announcements for several weeks before students packed up and left for Wapsie on the 12th after school. They spent the night in the cabins, ate meals all together and got back to City the following day.

Students were expected to use their creativity and critical thinking skills in order to work with others. Veronica Abreu ‘19 was an upperclassman leader on the retreat and enjoyed seeing these skills come out of the students.

“There was one activity where they were put in random groups and were supposed to create a short story based on a movie genre,” Abreu said. “I really enjoyed seeing the underclassmen working together and getting creative and compromising. They worked really well together.”

Leading the student leaders are teachers. Their goal is to guide the students in collaboration and thinking outside the box. The common belief among teachers, and something that Mr. Schumann particularly finds important, is how these leadership skills reflect on to City High.

“I’d like to think that students get a moment to reflect on those core values of City High which is what makes us the school that leads,” said Schumann.